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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPD Public Safety Byrne JAG Competitive GrantAgenda Item No: 24 Meeting Date: April 20, 2009 SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Department: Police Prepared by: Ralph Pata, Lieutenant City Manager Approval: SUBJECT: Report and Recommendation Regarding Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Public Safety Byrne JAG Competitive Grant. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City Council accept this American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Public Safety Byrne JAG Competitive Grant report and direct the Police Department to continue with the application for this grant. BACKGROUND: In 1998, the San Rafael Police Department implemented community policing. Since that time, we have seen a reduction in our sworn and civilian positions due to budget difficulties. Due to several reductions, our sworn officers have had to take on added responsibility in the field that used be handled by civilian Police Service Specialists (PSS). These responsibilities have forced the police officers to divert their attention from the community policing program. Additionally, in 2002, we eliminated the civilian Police Crime Analyst position due to budget difficulties. This position was valuable to our agency because it allowed us to take a systematic approach to crime trends based on clear data. At that time, we deployed our patrol staffing based on the information received from the crime analyst. On February 17, 2009, the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also referred to as the Job Stimulus Bill) was passed. As one of its many elements, the Recovery Act provides the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) with funding for grants. Specifically, under the Public Safety Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant Program (also know as a Justice Assistance Grant — JAG), DOJ will assist local communities in preventing drug abuse and crime. Based on the grant award categories, the San Rafael Police Department would qualify for: Category IV — Hiring of Civilian Staff in Law Enforcement Agencies. The grant application is due on April 27, 2009. ANALYSIS: Applications solicited under Category IV of the Public Safety Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant Program are for the purpose of hiring civilian staff in law enforcement agencies. Personnel in this category include but are not limited to civilian crime and intelligence analysts, dispatchers, and training staff to support sworn law enforcement with the goal of making sworn law enforcement more available on the street in an effort to reduce and prevent crime. Personnel in this category may not be used for administrative or clerical support. The total funding available under this grant is $224 million. The project period for award is for 24 months, with a start date of July 31, 2009. FOR CITY CLERK ONLY File No.: Council Meeting: Disposition: SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Paae: 2 Since this is a competitive grant, our application would be evaluated against every other submitting agency. There is no guarantee that we would receive an award or the actual amount of the award requested. The grant would allow us to resurrect the Police Crime Analyst position and fill the void left when that position was eliminated. With the advance in technology over the last seven years, this position will be able to use a variety of software programs to quickly identify current crime trends. This will allow us to improve our response to crime patterns, which will result in reducing crime in San Rafael. This position will also be able to provide other City departments, the City Council, and the community with up-to-date statistical data on types of crimes, accident information, and other relevant crime related information. The San Rafael Police Department must prioritize competing demands for services and resources every day. On average, 70% of our Patrol Officers' time is taken up by handling calls for service and completing crime reports. In 2008, 64% of our calls for service were of a lower priority type (34,206 priority 3 & 4 calls). A typical priority 3 & 4 call for service would be a documentation report with no suspect at the location, a non -injury accident report for documentation, a request for information and/or a civil issue, a parking complaint, etc. Since there are currently no Police Service Specialists assigned to the patrol division, the Patrol Officers are responsible for handling every type of call for service. This grant would also allow us to hire four PSS positions and assign them to the patrol division. The PSS positions will handle the lower priority incidents and reports, resulting in our officers having more time to be proactive in higher priority areas. Some of those areas would be traffic enforcement (including pedestrian safety issues, injury accident reduction, and neighborhood complaints of speeding vehicles), city homeless issues (downtown complaints and open space encampments), gang and prostitution complaints, community beat projects, and part one crimes (homicide, sexual assaults, burglaries, etc.). If the grant is approved, it would allow us to replace positions that had been an integral part of our department. Since the positions have been vacant for several years, we would use the first year to reevaluate their effect upon the services that we provide to the public. This information will assist us in determining if we need to recommend a change in the balance of positions (sworn vs. non -sworn) within our department to make sure that we are providing the best service to our community. FISCAL IMPACT: The grant will cover only two years of the total salary and benefits for the one Crime Analyst and four Police Service Specialists. ' Once the grant funding is over, the City is not obligated to keep the positions. The job fliers for Crime Analyst and Police Service Specialists would be modified to reflect that the positions would end (unless further grant funding or other general funds becomes available), at the completion of the two year grant cycle. The grant does not pay for uniforms and related equipment. The Police Department would pay for those items out of our existing budgeted funds. The grant does not pay for vehicles and we do not expect to purchase any new vehicles for this grant. Currently all of our Patrol Officers drive by themselves in marked units. Having four Police Service Specialists in the field would allow us to double up some of the Officers for more directed patrolling and specific Community Policing work. This should free up at least one marked patrol car for a PSS to use. Our current fleet includes a utility type vehicle outfitted with Crime Scene Investigation equipment. Since the field PSS's would be responsible for the CSI work, they could use this vehicle as well. OPTIONS: It is our belief that all of the grant positions will prove to be very effective in helping our department become more proactive in the area of community policing and addressing current crime issues and we would want to continue staffing and funding the positions after the grant expires. Our options would be: • At the end of the two years, if the economy improves and public funds are available, the City Council could increase the Police Department funding and allow us to make some or all of the positions permanent. SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 3 • The grant funds would end on July 30, 2011. In that same year, the Police Department is expecting three officers to retire. Based on the projected yearly grant position costs $460,000 (PSS Step A $90,000 x 4 FTE _ $360,000 and Crime Analyst Step A $100,000 x 1 FTE _ $100,000), and the expected savings from the vacant officer positions in 2011/2012 of $588,000 (one Sergeant, one Corporal, one Officer), the Chief of Police could recommend to the City Council that the officer position(s) remain vacant to pay for some or all of the grant positions. This request would be based on an evaluation of our department and the level of service that we are providing to the community. • Since our records management system (RIMS) is also used by Twin Cities PD, San Anselmo PD, and Fairfax PD, we would look into the possibility of sharing the costs of the Crime Analyst. The Crime Analyst should be able to provide the same or similar crime trend information to these other jurisdictions, utilizing the RIMS databases for each jurisdiction. ACTION REQUIRED: Accept report and approve the recommendation that the Police Department continue with the submittal of an application for the Public Safety Byrne JAG Competitive Grant.